


Feels Like Home

by krankypants



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Abusive Relationship, Adult Themes, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-10-24
Updated: 2011-10-24
Packaged: 2017-10-24 22:10:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/268416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krankypants/pseuds/krankypants
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a loved one shows up in LA will Don, his family and his team be able to protect her from the life that she's trying to leave behind?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Pairing/Characters: All main Numb3rs characters including Megan (I'm not ready to admit that she's gone!) plus a few original characters. My muse makes me think that there will be some love in here somewhere. I'm just not sure where yet. I think that he's keeping it a secret!  
> Summary: When a loved one shows up in LA will Don, his family and his team be able to protect her from the life that she's trying to leave behind?  
> Rating: I'm not really sure how this whole rating system works, so I'm gonna say given the Warnings that I've provided, you should probably be at least old enough to vote if you want to read this story.  
> Warnings: Adult Themes. Abusive Relationship. If you are at all sensitive to these things, please don't read.  
> Spoilers: Everything up to the end of Season 4, I suppose  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing but a notebook and a pen.  
> Author's Note: All mistakes are mine, as this story has not been beta'd by anyone other than me. Mostly because it's the first piece of fiction that I've written in about 10 years and I'm really nervous about posting it! So if you are the sort of person who offers comments, I implore you to be honest about what you think! If it's poo, please feel free to tell me! I'm going to put on my thick skin for this!  
> AN 2: I originally started this story back in '08 and have slowly been adding to it; which means that yes, this is a WIP. If you aren't a fan of those, I feel ya! I'm not going to promise that it will ever even be finished, but I felt that if I wrote it down maybe it would stop keeping me awake at night! Problem with that is, every time I go to put pen to paper (for real. I'm kinda old school like that) my brain goes blank!!

Don Eppes was finally finished work for the week, case closed, paper work filed, an actual weekend on the horizon. He planned to start it out with a few beers and a game on TV with his brother and dad.

He parked in the driveway of his childhood home and as he approached the front of the house he noticed a dark haired young woman sitting on the front steps, head bowed, hugging the travel bag sitting on her lap.

"Can I help you?" When she looked up at him with innocent green eyes, he was suddenly struck with an image of a seven year old girl with long curly blond hair tied into messy braided pigtails. "Gracie?" he asked.

"Hi Donnie," she responded.

He instinctively moved toward her, now noticing her very pregnant belly hiding behind the bag she was holding.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but you don't look like you're in any shape to be traveling," he said gesturing toward her belly. He couldn't quite place the look that flashed across her eyes, but it gave him a feeling of unease. Hoping that she might be willing to open up to him he lightened his tone and asked, "What're you doing here, kid?"

"Don, I'm in a bit of trouble, and I didn't.....I didn't know where else to go." She whispered voice cracking, obviously on the verge of tears.

He crouched down in front of her, cautiously taking her bag and setting it on the porch with one hand and taking one of her hands in his with the other. "Legal trouble or personal?"

Releasing a long breath she replied, "Personal."

Don let out a long breath of his own and pulled her up. "Why don't we go inside and talk about it?"

"I've been sitting here a long time thinking about knocking, but I wasn't sure if I was welcome here anymore after so many years."

"Gracie, you're family," Don said as if that explained everything; and to her it did. Those words hung in the air between them for a moment; as the moment faded Don opened the front door, calling out to his father and brother as they walked through it.

"In here!" Alan called from the kitchen.

Beside him Don heard Grace softly gasp, he looked down at her, "It feels just the same," she mumbled; a slight smile ghosting across her lips.

"Can you come out here? Bring Charlie." Don called back to his father.

Don went back outside, bringing in the bag that was still sitting on the step and closing the door when he re-entered the house. As Charlie and Alan came into the main room he protectively wrapped his arm around Grace's shoulder and said "Look who I found sitting on your step."

Alan and Charlie both stopped; looking at the woman standing beside Don. Don dropped his hand to the small of her back, applying just enough pressure to cause her to step forward slightly.

Grace looked up, nervous eyes meeting those of the men standing in front of her. "Hi," she whispered.

As if that word broke their trance both men rushed forward and before she knew what was happening Alan was was hugging her as if he could give her every hug that she'd missed for the last fifteen years; and she hugged him back just as fiercely as her swollen belly would allow.

Stepping back, Alan Eppes closely examined the face of his niece, but it was Charlie who spoke first.

"You look just like our mom," he mumbled.

"When thoughts make noise, Chuck," Don chastised his little brother.

"I'm sorry, but it's still true. Last time we saw her she was what...."

"Thirteen," Grace supplied. Ignoring the fact that Charlie was talking about her as if she wasn't standing there; vaguely remembering that that was simply just the way that her cousin would work through a problem.

"Right thirteen, and now she's what...."

"Twenty-eight"

"Right. So obviously she's changed."

"As have we all," Alan interrupted. "And granted father time may have been kinder to her than some of us; I'm going to go out a limb and guess that she didn't come here at 9:30 on a Friday night to tell us that she's all grown up." Taking Grace by the arm Alan led her into the living room, helping her to sit on the couch, before taking a seat beside her.

Don and Charlie quickly exchanged a look before following and pulling the two over sized arm chairs closer to where Grace and Alan were sitting.

"So, Little One," Alan continued, "What brings you here?"

"I didn't want to cause you any worry, so I thought that I should probably come see you before I officially become a missing person."


	2. Chapter 2

“What exactly do you mean by ‘officially become a missing person’?” Don asked.

“Well, the day before yesterday I left Seattle without telling anyone where I was going.” Grace replied. “So if I’ve planned correctly either tomorrow or the day after, my boyfriend is going to notice that I’m not there and will start looking for me.”

“I don’t understand why though Grace. Did you have some sort of an argument with your boyfriend?” Alan asked.

“Something like that,” pausing to sigh and wash her hands over her face, Grace looked to Don, “In my bag, on top there’s a hard covered black notebook, can you have a look at it for a second, then bring it here and I’ll explain everything from the beginning.”

Don slowly got up from his chair, walking over to Grace’s bag. Retrieving the notebook, cautiously opening it, not really sure what to expect. Starting at the first page, he noticed that it was dated almost four years previous. The first part of the book was dates and notes about strange bruising or behavior. Going farther into the book was more detailed descriptions of how bruises and injuries were obtained. Along with the written documentation there were also dated photographs, showing bruising on various body parts, black eyes, split lips; there was even an X-Ray report from last year showing three broken ribs. The last entry in the book was dated five months ago.

Walking back into the living room Don handed the book to his brother. “Dad, why don’t you look at that with Charlie?”

While Alan got up to sit beside his other son, Don sat on the couch beside Grace; waiting for the other two men to see what he had seen. They didn’t go through it nearly as thoroughly as Don had. Quickly figuring out what she was trying to tell them.

“The last entry in the book, you were already....” Charlie began to ask, eyes dropping to look briefly at Grace’s stomach.

She nodded. “About three and a half months. That was the day I found out that I was pregnant.”

“Why would you want to have a child with someone like that?”

“I never intended to Charlie,” Grace began to tremble as her eyes filled with tears, “but sometimes when he was feeling particularly pissed off, beating me wasn’t enough of a....release for him and he would, um, well force me to, um, you know....and that’s how I ended up like this.”

“Forgive me for asking this, as it seems a somewhat obvious question; but did you ever report this to the police?” Alan asked.

“I thought about it – a lot. But when the person hurting you is the police, what can you do?”

"You get yourself reported as a missing person, cross state lines and get taken into protective custody by the FBI!" Don exclaimed, jumping up and pulling out his cell phone.

"What? No!" Not nearly as agile as her cousin, Grace struggled to get to her feet. Alan and Charlie immediately moved to help her stand. "Thanks," she whispered to them. Turning back to Don practically yelling, "Absolutely not Don! That wasn't the plan! I can't possibly ask you to do that!"

"You aren't asking me Gracie! I'm telling you; that's just how it's going to be." He told her using his best Agent-in-Charge tone to let her know that he wasn't willing to negotiate with her.

Cautiously approaching him she gently placed her hand on his arm. Speaking softly, "Donnie, I appreciate that you're trying to do what you think is best here; but we haven't seen each other in a long time, and I'm sure that what I've told you tonight has come as quite a shock." Don made a noise as if to interrupt. "No. Please let me finish." Calmly she continued, "Emotions are running high in this room right now. You are understandably upset, and I'm hormonal and exhausted. I don't expect to be reported missing until at least Sunday, so how about if we both just take a step back and talk about it again tomorrow when we've had time to get some perspective."

"Perspective, Grace! Really?" Don yelled moving closer to her until they were standing toe to toe, his anger escalating despite her attempt to calm him. "For the better part of your life Grace, you were like a little sister to me and Charlie; a daughter to our parents and now you walk through that door," raising his arm he turned to gesture toward the door and as he turned back, arm still raised time for Don seemed to simultaneously slow down and speed up. Grace cowered away from him, Charlie moved between them and Alan was ushering Grace away toward the kitchen.

And then Don froze. The realization of how his action had been misinterpreted washing over him.

Moving to collapse onto the couch, Don looked up at his brother, a look of remorse on his face. "Charlie....I would never....I mean, you know that right?

Sighing and lowering himself back into the chair that moments before he had moved from, Charlie studied Don for a few seconds, using the time to collect his thoughts. When he finally spoke, it wasn't to yell at his brother, as Don had expected. Voice even Charlie said "Yeah, Don, I know; and dad knows and I'm sure that Grace knows too."

As if on que Alan walked back into the room. Face furious, eyes filled with disappointment.

"Or maybe not," Charlie mumbled.


	3. Chapter 3

Coming to stand in front of his eldest son, jaw clenched, Alan hissed “Donald Eppes! What is the matter with you?”

“I’m so sorry dad. I never meant to scare her like that.”

“I’m not the one that you need to be apologizing to!” Alan snapped.

“You’re right. I’ll go talk to her.”

“No yelling?” Alan requested, tone softening somewhat.

“No yelling.” Don agreed. Slowly getting up off the couch and moving toward the kitchen.

The sight of his cousin when he entered the kitchen nearly broke Don’s heart.

Grace was sitting at the counter, back straight, tears silently streaming down her cheeks, staring straight ahead. The sound of the kitchen door swinging shut as Don entered, breaking her concentration.

“I’m sorry Don. I never meant to make you mad.” Lowering herself from the bar stool and moving toward the door. “I’m just gonna go.”

“Grace,” Don sighed. “Don’t go. And don’t think that you need to apologize to me. I’m the one who should be sorry. And I am. More than I can say. You were right. We do need to talk about this. But in the morning.” He had slowly been moving toward her as he spoke and now stood in front of her. “The best place for you to be is here, you know that. It’s why you chose to come home again, to the only real family that you’ve ever had, isn’t it?”

Grace smiled at Don, “And they say Charlie's the genius! It is true though Don, this is the only place I ever felt safe when I was young. I guess a part of me was hoping to get that back, even if it could only be for a little while. I just wanted to remember what that feels like. Take it with me.”

“And you should feel that way. That really is my intention. But finding out what you’ve told us tonight put my big brother instincts into overdrive and I got a little crazy! And just so we’re clear here, I’m not mad at you, Grace. I’m angry that you had to go through this, for all this time. I have half a mind to get on a plane to Seattle, and hunt the son-of-a-bitch down myself; but I know that won’t help you. Why don’t we both stay here tonight and in the morning we’ll discuss what we’re going to do?”

“I can agree to that.” Relaxing substantially with those words Grace yawned. “I haven’t slept in two days. A good night’s sleep would probably be a very good thing at this point.”

“Come on then Little One, I’ll help you up to your room.”

********** ********** ********** **********

Saturday morning Grace woke up feeling more rested than she had in years. Sitting up in bed, she picked her old stuffed bunny with one eye and a tattered ear up off the bedside table and looked around her childhood bedroom. It was as if no time had gone by at all. The pink gingham curtains that matched the bedding. The matching white bedroom suite. Pictures on the walls of Brere Rabbit and his friends. Family photos on the desk, dresser and bedside table. Getting up to wander around the room and look at photos of when her life was simple, Grace was shocked to see the smile on her own face; remembering how happy she used to be here, realizing that the memories that the Eppes house held for her were probably the happiest times of her life.

Looking her bunny in the eye she whispered “Maybe you can go home again.”

A loud noise and voices coming from down stairs snapped her back to the present. Grace decided to buy herself a few more minutes by quickly showering and getting dressed before she had to go down and face reality.

Coming down the stairs a short time later Grace was surprised to see a number of strange faces sitting around the dining room table; talking in hushed voices while passing coffee, juice, and various breakfast foods to each other.

Charlie looked up from where he was sitting at the table between Don and a pretty woman with dark features, and smiled “Good morning sleepy-head!”

“Good morning Whiz Kid!”

Alan came over to where she was standing, “You’d better hurry up Little One, if you want to eat this morning!”

Wrapping her arm around her uncle’s waist, he kissed the top of her head. “I think I still remember how to fight a few scraps away from Don and Charlie!” Grace said to the table, to her uncle she whispered “I didn’t know that you were expecting company or I would have been down sooner to help you.”

“You needed to sleep. Besides this motley crew is hardly company; they’re practically family and they’ve come to see you.” Grace looked at Alan, not understanding what he was saying. “Three of these folks are Don’s team and the other two are Charlie’s colleagues.” He explained.

Stomping her foot like a petulant child Grace exclaimed, “Don! You promised that we would talk!”

“Gracie, did you really just stomp your foot?” Don laughed.

Blushing and laughing at herself while trying to be serious she said "Yes. I'm very angry at you."

"Uh-huh" Don laughed harder, getting up to pull out the chair at the head of the table for her. Taking his seat to her right Don went around the table making introductions.

Alan took the seat to Grace's left, putting a plate of toast and fruit in front of her. "Eat." he commanded.  
After the breakfast dishes had been cleared away to the kitchen Don poured himself another cup of coffee and casually asked "Well Grace, should we talk about the elephant in the room?"

Letting a beat pass while she let out a slow breath Grace answered "I suppose so, seeing as the troops have been gathered."


End file.
